Six numbers to ignore from the presidential campaign

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Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / MCT

This is the tax increase that middle-class families will supposedly face if President Obama is re-elected, according to the Romney-Ryan campaign. As the GOP candidate for vice president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), put it Oct. 13, "President Obama refuses to get serious about spending. And given...

This is the tax increase that middle-class families will supposedly face if President Obama is re-elected, according to the Romney-Ryan campaign. As the GOP candidate for vice president, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), put it Oct. 13, "President Obama refuses to get serious about spending. And given... (Michael Sears / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / MCT)

President Obama has repeatedly said that the Medicare "voucher" plan proposed by GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan would raise seniors' costs by $6,400 a year. The figure comes from a study by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which used projections from the...

President Obama has repeatedly said that the Medicare "voucher" plan proposed by GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan would raise seniors' costs by $6,400 a year. The figure comes from a study by the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which used projections from the... (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

In both of his debates with President Obama, GOP rival Mitt Romney has asserted that there are "23 million" Americans "out of work." That figure combines estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of people who are out of work -- the unemployed, who number about 12 million -- with part-time...

In both of his debates with President Obama, GOP rival Mitt Romney has asserted that there are "23 million" Americans "out of work." That figure combines estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of people who are out of work -- the unemployed, who number about 12 million -- with part-time... (Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

To deflect criticism about the fatal attack on the U.S. ambassador to Libya, the Obama campaign has accused GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of proposing to cut $300 million from the budget for embassy security. As Vice President Joe Biden put it in his debate with Ryan, "the...

To deflect criticism about the fatal attack on the U.S. ambassador to Libya, the Obama campaign has accused GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of proposing to cut $300 million from the budget for embassy security. As Vice President Joe Biden put it in his debate with Ryan, "the... (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have repeatedly accused President Obama of "cutting" $716 billion from Medicare in order to offset the cost of the 2010 healthcare law. Those "cuts," which Ryan incorporated into his own budget proposals,...

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have repeatedly accused President Obama of "cutting" $716 billion from Medicare in order to offset the cost of the 2010 healthcare law. Those "cuts," which Ryan incorporated into his own budget proposals,... (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

The presidential race has been replete with statistics and data tossed out by the candidates that purport to show something threatening or wrongheaded about their opponent's policies. Typically, they don't just make up their numbers; instead, they take research produced by someone else (often...